


A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes

by Catuchi16



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Other, newsies cinderella au, please dont read if it triggers you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22945774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catuchi16/pseuds/Catuchi16
Summary: A modern Cinderella AURace is CinderellaSpot is the PrinceJack and Medda kind of share the role of the godmother?? Youll seeNOT ABANDONED. WILL CONTINUE DURING MY SUMMER BREAK (in two weeks- its summer where i live)
Relationships: Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 7
Kudos: 40





	1. Introduction

Antonio woke up at 6:30AM, earlier than everyone else in the household, as usual. He quickly got changed, brushed his teeth, attempted to make his hair look less like shit, but of course, failed.  
It was about 6:40 when Race finally went downstairs to get a quick breakfast and then enjoyed the few minutes he had left alone, and did his homework.

It wasn't until 7:00 AM, that his step-family finally woke up. He quickly made breakfast for them before they could start yelling, and brought it upstairs.  
“Good morning, Morris” he greeted, although his voice was dripping with fake sweetness  
“what took you so long?!” the dark haired boy asked, clearly annoyed.  
Racer sighed “I'm sorry” he said, but did not sound like it and did not explain any further, knowing he didn't really care, and that it might just get him into trouble.  
“anyways, get my laundry” he ordered, and Racer rolled his eyes, but did not complain, grabbing Oscars dirty clothes (that were currently on a messy pile in the floor) before leaving the room.

The young blond then went over to the other room, knocking on the door and entering once he heard the loud and annoyed voice of Morris, yelling “Come in!”  
“Good morning, Morris” Antonio greeted, the fake sweetness still on his voice  
Morris just huffed “Took you long enough” he said, taking the trey from Races hands “Just get my laundry and leave” he ordered, and Race complied. He grabbed the slightly older boys clothing and left without saying a word. 

He then made his way towards the room at the end of the hallway. His step-fathers room. Race would never admit it, but he was terrified of him. Softly knocking on the door, he waited for a harsh “come in” and went inside “Good morning, Wiesel” he greeted, the fake sweetness in his voice gone. He remembered when his mom was still alive, and he used to purposely mispronounce his name. It was a fun joke, but now he didnt dare do it. Hed only made that mistake once, and it was not happening again. It couldn't happen again. So Race put the trey down on Wiesel's bedside table, wordlessly grabbed the laundry, and left. 

Once outside, Race finally took a slightly relieved breath and went downstairs to leave the laundry in the washing machine- the only things he had to wash were all completely black, so it wasn't a problem.  
He then grabbed his stuff, and left before his step-brothers could come back downstairs and force him to do more stuff.

He walked down the block and waited for Albert, his best friend.  
A grey, beat up truck pulled up next to him. It was Albert's car. “Heyyy” the red-head greeted, and Race grinned, opening the door to the passenger seat and getting in. “So, how are the two demons and the devil doing?” he was referring to Oscar, Morris. and Wiesel. A very creative “nickname”, i know.  
“Y'know, the usual. theyre being assholes but that's nothing new” the blond said honestly  
Albert frowned “i'm sorry you have to deal with that, Race” he said, but the other male just shrugged  
“its fine, im used to it” he said.

A few minutes later, they got to school. Race quickly got out of the car, wanting to get to class as quickly as possible to avoid seeing the Delanceys- or anyone else at the football team, really.  
You see, just like Albert, Morris and Oscar were in the football team- everyone “loved” them, but really, they were just scared- knowing fully they were the last people you wanted to have on your bad side. So everyone took great pleasure off of making Races life even more miserable. But at this point, Race couldn't care less.

Albert, on the other hand, was surprisingly nice, and he didn't let himself be manipulated by the Delanceys. He honestly hated them almost as much as Race did. But, unlike him, he wasn't bullied and tormented by them, both inside and outside of school.

At school, Race went through his usual classes, and mostly managed to avoid the Delanceys and the rest of the football team (except Albert).  
Sadly, the day ended and Race was forced to go back “home”, if you could even call it that.

He knew that the Delanceys had football practice that day, and Wiesel usually worked late, so he was free to try and finish schoolwork and clean the house as much as he could before they got back, which would be in approximately 2 hours.

So Race didn't finish his homework, but it was already getting late (although only half an hour had passed)- and if he wanted to get any chores done before his step-family got back, he'd had to stop now. He started cleaning the house. He cleaned his step-brothers room, then he cleaned the living room, did the dishes, and started cleaning the dining room before they all got back. 

“Antonio! Come here!” Wisels booming voice demanded.  
Race sighed and dropped what he was doing. He walked over to where his step-father was, and tried to make his face expression look less ‘im so fucking tired’, and more ‘what do you want’  
But apparently, his face didn't want to cooperate. “what do you want?” he asked. He didn't mean to sound rude- but the way Wisel looked at him told him he took it that way.  
“don't speak to me like that, boy” he hissed, and Race heard Oscar snikerfrom next to him.  
“sorry” the blond mumbled, trying to make himself as small as possible.  
“now, go and get me something to eat” Wiesel ordered  
“well..what do you want to eat?” he asked, accidentally sounding rude again (but can you blame him? he's tired and hungry). In that moment, a sharp slap met his cheeks,  
“I told you, do not talk to me like that!” he yelled, angrily, and Race cowered under his gaze.  
“s-sorry” he mumbled, looking at the ground.  
“Look at me when i talk to you, brat!” Wiesel said, raising his hand, ready to strike again.  
Race looked up at him and cowered even more “i'm sorry!” he said, this time fully looking at the older man.  
Wiesel lowered his hand, still glaring at him. Race then excused himself to go get Wiesel something to eat. 

He rushed over to the kitchen, making a coffee and just grabbing some leftover brownies from the day before and quickly made his way back over to where Wiesel was, placing the trey in front of him and quickly leaving to go back to his room, before he or the Delanceys could say anything.

The rest of the day went on with the usual routine. A bit more cleaning, cooking dinner, barely eating anything himself, doing to dishes, do a bit more homework he couldn't get done before- and then, around midnight, he was finally free to go to go to sleep.


	2. The letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally know a bit more about Jack and Spot!

Race woke up to the sound of yelling. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily and looked around the room again. He checked the time. 6:50AM. Shit.   
Race was out of bed in no time, throwing on some clothes and brushing his teeth as quickly as possible, not even bothering to fix his hair.   
He quickly grabbed his bag and shoved some school supplies and books in there, before putting it over his shoulder, grabbing his phone, and running downstairs to make his step-family breakfast. He didn't have time to have any himself.

Then it was just the usual routine. After Racer made them breakfast, since this time didnt have to do laundry, he left, once again waiting around the block for Albert to pull up in his beat up truck, as usual.

Nothing really changed that day, or the day after and so on. Everything fell into the usual routine.   
Until Sunday, that is.

Race was in his room, talking with Albert on the phone when he heard his step-brothers yelling excited. There were a few minutes of silence before they called for him. The blond rolled his eyes, saying goodbye to Albert before going to see what the two wanted.  
Once downstairs, he saw that Oscar and Morris were on their computer, looking for “fancy” Halloween costumes on Amazon (because they're just that lame). Without looking up, Oscar said   
“We've been invited to Sean Conlons Halloween party”

Ah. So that's what that was all about.  
You see, Sean Conlon (or as he was called by his friends, Spot) was easily the most popular guy at school, the stereotypical straight (“straight”) rich guy that thinks he's better than everyone else just because he's a quarterback on the football team (well, that's what he wants people to think, Race has seen him on multiple occasions drop the act and be a genuinely kind person, mostly when around his closest friend: Hotshot. He doesn't dare to tell anyone, though), and he also threw a massive Halloween party each year.  
Although almost everyone was invited, some specific people, like himself, never were. Not like he wanted to go anyways.

The Delanceys got invited every year, so this was nothing new. To be completely honest, Antonio was sure that the only reason why Sean put up with them was because they were also on the football team, and were respected (feared) around school. It'd be dumb to make enemies with them  
Oscar cleared his throat and glared at him, and Race realised he hadn't responded yet   
“Okay so? You guys get invited every year”  
“Yes, I know, but since this is his senior year, he decided to invite everyone, including you.”

Races eyes widened slightly in surprise. That was… unexpected

“You're not going, though” Morris explained with a smirk

Race squinted at him “but… isn't everyone invited?” Okay so maybe he did want to go to this party- he had heard they were amazing and, even if he was hiding it, he was actually excited for this.

Oscar scoffed “yes, but you're not allowed to go. Wiesel said so himself! Has a list of chores you have to do, since- if I remember correctly- he has an important dinner here with his boss the day after. Plus, this year's theme is a masquerade ball, and it's not like you have anything to wear.” 

Race’s mind instantly went to his only friend apart from Albert, Jack Kelly. Jack was their neighbour, and he lived with his adoptive mother, Medda Larkin. He went to the same middle school as Sean when they were younger, before moving to an art school for high school. However, he was still close friends with Spot, and was invited to all his parties. He also knew that Jack absolutely loved to design and make clothes (mostly as a hobby, since he was much more interested in pursuing art as a career), which he had done for Race many times before, since Weisel rarely ever let him buy some for himself. He usually ended up with old clothes the Delanceys no longer wanted. They were always too big on him. 

“So? I‘ll figure something out. It's not like anyone will pay attention to me.”

“Exactly.” Started Morris “no one will realise you're even there, so why bother going?” 

Before Race could respond, Weisel entered the room.  
“Is there a problem here?” he growled   
“No-” “Yes! Antonio here wants to go to the party instead of helping you for your big night! Not only that, he's being incredibly rude to us!”

Racer glared at Oscar, just as Wiesel glared at him. 

“You are not going.” Wiesel said harshly “you have work to do.”

Knowing better than to argue, Race just sighed and went back to his room. He should have expected this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one isnt great, but i was honestly very lost on what to do with it. thats why it took me so long to update- anyways, im finally on break, so ill be able to post more often!


	3. The dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready for the party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Race gives a big fuck you to gender norms

Race was not looking forward to today. It was the Halloween party. Jack and Albert had been bothering him all week about this, begging him to sneak out and go. They knew Wiesel wouldn't be home until midnight, since he worked late on fridays, and usually went to a bar to get a bit drunk, just to end up drinking even more when he got home.

Race hated fridays.

Jack said he'd already finished making him what he was supposed to wear. He told him it was a surprise. Race couldn't wait, he was excited to see what Jack made, but he'd have to wait until his step-brothers left. 

Anyways, school went just as usual today- er, kind of.  
Albert couldn't pick him up that day, but forgot to tell him, so Race ended up missing first period. Oscar and Morris were even worse than usual that day, rubbing it in his face that he couldn't go to the party, and continuously bragging loudly to their friends about their expensive suits and beautiful masks. 

Race was relieved when school was over, to say the least.  
Sadly, as soon as he got back home, he found a list of chores left by Wiesel for him to do. Race, knowing he'd be leaving for the party in a few hours (completely ignoring what his step-family had ordered), decided to start doing them as soon as possible. If he was quick enough, he might be able to get them done before leaving for the party.

So that's how he spent the first 2 hours right after he got home, which wasn't unusual occurrence. Until the Delanceys arrived, that is. The party started at 7, but since they were “friends” with Sean, they were asked to be there at 6:30. Meaning they only had half an hour to get ready (since it took another half hour to get to Spots house)

They seemed stressed, and forced Race to abandon his chores to help them get ready.

“Antonio!! Go get me my suit!!”  
“And get me my mask while you're at it!”  
“No, dipshit, the other golden flower!”  
“TOO TIGHT!!! I CAN'T BREATHE LIKE THIS!!!”  
That one got a small laugh out of Race. Safe to say that Oscar didn't end up wearing his choker, finding that no matter how loose it was, he still found it very uncomfortable.  
Oscars suit was a bright magenta, almost neon, color. He put a softer (although not by much) pink shirt underneath it, as well as a black and pink mask. Race thought the whole outfit just made him look like a pink highlighter.  
Morris, on the other hand, wore a golden suit, with a lot of detail, and various golden flowers and butterflies attached to it, mostly the sleeves and shoulders. His mask, much like his suit, was golden, with many butterflies and flowers.  
Race didn't understand why he spent so much money on an outfit hed only wear once, to a friends halloween party.  
All this went on for half an hour, before the two finally left.

Since Race knew it'd still be a little while before Jack came, he tried to finish as many of his chores as he could. He didn't end up getting much done, because only ten minutes after the Delancey brothers left, he heard the doorbell ring. 

Once Race opens the door, Jack doesn't so much as greet him. He just goes inside the house and starts walking towards Races room, grabbing his arm and dragging the blond with him, who barely had time to close the front door. 

He notices that Jack is already wearing his clothes for the party. A blue suit with purple accents.

Jack is excitedly ranting about what he made, speaking almost too fast for Race to understand. 

Once they get to Races room, Jack finally drops the bag he was holding and then gently sets the black garment bag on his bed.

“Okay so” Jack started, as he took two boxes, one small one and one shoe box, out of his bag “here is your mask! i finished it today” He said, opening the small box to reveal a beautiful, delicate looking silver mask. 

Races eyes widened “Jack, wow…” he said, speechless “how did you?-”

“I bought a boring white mask, and then turned it into this.” he explained “it already had a bit of the detail, but i added most of it myself.” He proudly said, before setting it down and instead opening the shoe box to reveal a pair of very pale blue heels with small stones attached to the back of it, as well as a silver heart at the front.

Race grinned. If there was something you needed to know about Racetrack Higgins, was that he was constantly breaking the “gender norms”. Wearing crop tops, heels, makeup, and a few skirts, just to say a big fuck you to the system.  
Wiesel usually beat him for things like that, but that never stopped him.

“Now” Jack says, interrupting his thoughts, “this is the best part”  
He opens the garment bag, revealing a beautiful silver gown. It seems to shine in the light, there are so many layers of thin fabric, and Race realises that there are also tiny (fake) stones, to make it glitter, sewn onto the dress. Race gasps in awe “oh my god… Jack, i don't know what to say-” Antonio started “its beautiful” he finally says, and Jack grins.

“Mhm, it really is- now go put all this on while we wait for Kath and Albert to come” he said, and Race glanced at him, confused “Kath and Al are coming..?” he asked, and Jack nodded

“Yes! Al is taking you to the party, and Kath is helping with your hair and makeup- also, she's my date to the party” He says, smiling shyly at the end of his sentence, and Race grins at him, knowing he's had a crush on Katherine for ages. Before he could say anything, Jack hands him the dress and a simple black choker, then pushes him towards the bathroom, to get changed.

It takes a short while, but Race eventually manages to put the dress on. He comes out of the bathroom, to find that Katherine is already there.  
She's wearing a purple dress with blue accents, matching Jacks outfit perfectly 

Kath smiles when she sees him “took you long enough” she jokes “now come on, let's get this done”  
The make up was very simple, really, since his face would be mostly covered by a mask. She just hid his still-fading bruises and did a few highlights, that's all. For his hair, she just made it look less messy. Re-curling his already curly hair, to make the curls look neater. 

He finally puts on his heels, and before he knows it, Albert is knocking on the door, and Race is getting on his dad's car (which he was allowed to drive for once), instead of the old truck.  
Albert is wearing a black suit with gold accents, and his mask is also gold. It's pretty simple, but a good type of simple. 

The redhead grins at him when he gets in the car “extra much?” He jokes, and Race smiles 

“Shut up.”


	4. The Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive had this written for weeks now, i just forgot to post it isndksks

Race was anxious. They'd finally arrived at Sean's house, half an hour late, that is.  
They weren't the only ones, though, a few other people were also just arriving. He noticed that Jack and Katherine weren’t here yet, even though they left at the same time they did. Race sighed, putting on his mask and stepping off the car, following Albert to the entrance. 

Once there, they were led inside, and Race didn't miss the weird looks he got. He didn't mind though, he loved that dress and loved how it looked on him.

Sighing, Race just continued to follow Albert, who seemed to know his way around the house pretty well. He followed him to an open staircase which led to a room, where the party was really happening. The room was huge, Race quickly realised, and stared in awe at the expensive decoration. Apparently, he stood there atop of the staircase for too long, because Albert had already gone down, and was talking to a few of his other friends, and some people were starting to stare at him. Slowly so he didn’t fall (because heels), he walked down the staircase, before hurrying off to a corner. He knew people were staring, and his only friend in this huge place was talking to other people he did not know.

Too caught up in his own thoughts, he didn’t realise someone coming up behind him and gently tapping on the shoulder, which made Race flinch in surprise and quickly turn around to see who it was. 

The boy was short, Race quickly noticed, but he also seemed very muscular.   
He was wearing a crimson red suit with black and gold accents, which were also the colors of his mask, which connected to a crown on his head. Race almost rolled his eyes when he saw it.

“May i have this dance?” The mysterious boy asked. Race hadn’t even realised the music had changed to slow dance.  
Surprised, he merely nodded, and let the guy lead him into the middle of the dance floor.   
Even though the boy was much shorter than him, he still led the dance, which Race didn’t mind at all. 

He noticed a lot of people were starting to join in, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Jack and Katherine, who had finally arrived, dancing. 

“You know” the boy started saying while they danced, probably in attempt to make a small conversation “you left many people speechless when you walked in on that dress” he said, and Race smirked 

“I know, i'm all for that dramatic effect” Antonio said, and the shorter boy laughed 

“I could tell” he said, “what's your name? Mines Spot” 

“Racetrack, Race or Racer for short”

“Oh come on, that cant be your real name”

“And Spot cant be yours either” 

He saw the shorter boy roll his eyes, he wasn't annoyed though, he was intrigued by this boy “Yeah, but you know my real name” 

“Of course i do, everyone in school does- trust me, Spot, you'd lose interest in me very quickly if you knew who i was”

“Doubt that”

Race sighed, Sean was stubborn, but he couldn't say he didn't like it. 

“Let's make a deal, if you like me enough by the end of the party, i'll tell you my name and take off my mask”

Spot grinned “it's a deal”

Their conversation went on for a few more minutes, before the song ended and the party resumed as it was before.

Race saw the Delanceys approaching, and he felt a small wave of panic. Spot seemed to notice this, because he glanced between them before finally asking Race “do you want to go outside?”   
The blond looked at him and nodded, smiling, before letting the shorter man lead him outside. 

Once outside, they walked hand in hand across the large garden, continuing their conversation from inside.

“You haven't read the books?” Race said, horrified.

Spot, who had already taken off the mask, rolled his eyes “no, the movies are good enough on their own” he said

Antonio shook his head “they aren't bad, but the books are always better, you monster.”

The conversation went on for a while, and everything seemed fine, at least until Albert came rushing towards him.

“Race!” He said “We gotta go! It's almost midnight!” 

Races eyes widened in panic, and he quickly pulled away from Sean “Fuck fuck fuck- lets go!”

Spot looked between the two of them, confused “wait wait wait- why do you have to go?” 

“I'm sorry, I can't explain right now-” “but you never gave me your name-”

Race didn't hear him, since he was already sprinting back towards the house behind Albert. He took off his heels, accidentally dropping one on the way, to go faster (running on heels, especially on grass, is not fun)  
He knew Spot was running behind him, but all the could do was follow Albert back towards the car, getting inside as quickly as possible before the redhead drove off back towards Antonio's house. Both of them were silently praying that Wiesel wasn't already there, and that they weren't too late.


	5. Back "home"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race goes back home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a very badly written and not edited fill in chapter that i did a while back but never had time to post it.  
> Its also very short.  
> Also idk how to feel about the fact that im making wiesel suck instead of snyder (since he isnt even part of this story). ngl i regretted not making it be snyder after the second chapter, but its too late to change it now.  
> On another note, im also planing on doing either a sleeping beauty au or a bonnie and clyde au. or maybe just a high school au because im basic- but idk i probably wont

When Albert pulled into the driveway, Race was relieved to see that Wiesel's car wasn't there, meaning that he wasnt home yet.  
He quickly stepped out of the car, waving goodbye to Al before going inside the house. 

Rushing upstairs, he took off his dress as quickly as possible, putting it back inside the black garment bag and hiding it in his small closet. He put his only heel and the mask in the shoe box, before hiding it in his closet as well, right next to the dress.

As soon as he was done with all that, he immediately starting doing the few chores he had left, hoping to get it done before Wiesel got home.

Sadly, that was not the case.

Race had been sweeping the floors, when there was a knock on the door. He sighed, and opened it, just to find a very drunk Wiesel.   
The older man shoved him out of the way and stumbled inside, taking a swing from the bottle in his hands. 

“What're you doing still up, boy?” The man slurred

Race cringed when he smelled the alcohol on his breathe “i'm finishing my chores-”

Wiesel scoffed “Shouldn't you be done with them by now? You've had hours to do them!” the man accused, angrily.

“I- Im sorry- they were so many and I didnt have tim-” the slap caught him off guard, and he couldn't stop the small yelp of pain and surprise as his head snapped to the side

“Ungrateful brat! I give you food, a roof over your head, and you complain about doing a few pathetic chores?” The older man screamed at him

“Im sorry…” Race repeated, quieter this time, not daring to meet Wiesel's eyes

“How many times do I have to tell you, look at me when I speak to you, boy!”

Race slowly lifted his gaze to look at Wiesel's dark eyes.

The older man took a swing from his bottle before throwing it to the side, breaking it. 

“Go get me something to drink- then clean that up and finish your chores.” The man ordered, and Race didn't argue.

Instead, he just did as he was told. After getting a drink for Wiesel, he threw the broken bottle (plus the loose pieces of glass) away, before finishing his chores. 

By the time he did. Wiesel was passed out in the couch, and the Delanceys were already back, complaining about the mystery boy Sean danced with.

“He barely talked to us once the actual party started, and then he spent all his time with that boy-” Oscar complained

“And he was wearing a dress! Absolutely disgusting.” Morris added, and Antonio couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. He couldn't understand what their problem was, but then again, he was used to their rude comments by now.

By the time Race went to sleep, it was already 3am. At least he didn't have school tomorrow.


	6. Mystery boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is (very) short and bad- it’s the last chapter i have pre-written so whoops   
> but i already started with the next one and i promise it’ll be much longer and well written
> 
> this is basically just another fill in chapter

Spot hadn't been able to take is mind off the boy from the party. He couldn't help it. He was intrigued by the tall blond, whose eyes were impossibly blue.   
What struck him as odd was what the boy had said, “You'd lose interest in me very quickly if you knew who i was”  
He didn't understand what he meant by that, but it just made him want to meet him again even more. 

He knew the boy had left his shoe, and that it wasn't bought (well, it was bought, but the stones and the hearts were put separately). He knew this because when he looked up heels from that brand, that one did not appear.   
That's when he got the idea.

Hed post on his instagram story that whoever it was he danced with, bring the other heel to school on Monday. 

All that was left to do was hope the boy would do so.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Race was exhausted. Today was Wiesel's important dinner, so he'd been insufferable all day. Not only that, but the Delanceys continued to complain about the mystery boy non-stop. It was becoming very tiring to hear them insult him all day, even if they didn't know it was him they were insulting. Not that they'd care anyways. 

The dinner couldn't come soon enough. When it did, he thought he'd be locked in his room and be asked to stay there.   
He didn't know he'd have to be the one to serve them food, water, and whatever else they wanted.

When everything was finally done, Wiesel and the Delanceys went to sleep, and Race was forced to stay awake and finish washing the dishes. 

At least until Jack quietly entered the house through the back door, startling him for a moment.

“Jesus Jack- warn a guy next time!” He hissed, but the brunette just rolled his eyes.

“Haven't you heard?” Race gave him a confused look “Spot asked the “mystery guy” to bring the heel to school on monday so he could finally meet him!!!” Jack explained

“Oh, cool.” The blond said, shrugging, and Jack raised an eyebrow at him  
“This is your chance!”  
“No”  
Jack gave him a puzzled look “what do you mean?”  
“Once he meets me, he'll be disappointed, and tell me it was a misunderstanding or something like that”  
Jack rolled his eyes “Spot wouldn't do that-”  
“- yes he would, Jack” Antonio interrupted “i'm not taking the shoe to school on monday, plus, I don't want to know what Weasel and the Delanceys would do if they found out i went to the party, even after they forbade it.”

Jack sighed “just please, think about it.” he begged  
“... Fine, now go before someone gets up and i get into trouble”

Jack hesitated, before finally leaving, and Race was once again left alone with his thoughts.


	7. Back to school

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> race is gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somedayonbroadway helped me with this!! they edited it :) also they have an ao3 and their fics are amazing (and a n g s t y >:) ) so pleaseee go check them out
> 
> i know i just said i wouldnt post until my break in 2 weeks, but i had free time and got inspired. so uh yeah-

Race did not take the shoe to school the next morning. Part of him wished he did. He wanted to talk to Sean again. Sean had been different. Sean had been nice. But he knew he wasn't what Spot wanted, nor what he expected. He'd be disappointed, finding out that Race was just, well Race. So he was doing the other boy a favor, really. Sean could continue to believe that the boy he met at the party was… whatever he'd expect him to be, and Race could move on with his life.

“Did you bring it?” Race jumped in surprise, whirling around to face Albert. 

“Bring what?” Race knew exactly what his best friend was talking about, he just hoped that it didn’t seem obvious that it was all he’d been thinking about for the past night. He just hoped that Albert would drop it.

He didn’t. “Y'know, the slipper!”

“Slipper?” Race laughed. “Just say ‘shoe,’ Al, no need for the dramatics,” the blond said, rolling his eyes. “And no, I obviously didn't bring it…” 

“What?! Why not?” his best friend demanded. 

“Because he’ll be disappointed when he sees it's just… me.” Race shrugged, not knowing what else there was to say. “He probably expects it to be someone hot and popular n’ interesting or whatever— plus, if the Delanceys found out I went to the party...” he trailed off. He didn't even want to think about it. They would surely tell Wiesel he would surely be dead by morning. 

Before Albert could say anything else, the bell rang, and Race rushed over to class without another word. 

History came first; a class he shared with Sean, although he’d never actually spoken to him before. Race honestly doubted Sean even knew Race was in that class, much less that he existed in the first place. Upon arriving, the boy sat and promptly tuned out everything the teacher was saying, at least until she announced that they would be working in pairs. He had no idea what they were going to be working on, thanks to his lack of focus, but he figured he’d just ask his partner later. 

The thought quickly left his mind when he heard the words that left his teacher's lips. 

“Oscar Delancey with David Jacobs,” Race heard called. He waited, hoping he hadn’t missed his own name. “And finally, Anthony Higgins with Sean Conlon.” 

Race’s breath caught in his throat for a moment.

He couldn't believe what was happening. Of course he'd have Sean as his project partner; just his luck.This was bad. This was more than bad. This was really bad. Race pressed his lips together tightly, knowing that he couldn’t let one word slip about that stupid party. It was just one stupid night. One stupid, beautiful, wonderful, amazing-

“Anthony, right?” Race was cut out from his thoughts by a voice next to him. He looked up to find Spot Conlon awkwardly standing next to him. It took him a second to realise he was staring, so Race cleared his throat and answered “y-yeah- thats me.” Mentally, he cursed himself for sounding so awkward.

Sean offered him a small smile and gestured to the seat next to him, silently asking if he could sit. Race could only nod response.

“So, about the project…” Sean started, scratching at the back of his neck for a moment, almost nervously. “What do you want to do? We have a few subjects we can choose from. I'm okay with any of them.” he said, shrugging as he let Race decide.

“Uh…” Race wished he'd paid attention to his class, at least then he'd have an idea of what they were supposed to do and what Spot was talking about. But he wasn’t about to ask him. He didn’t want to look as stupid as he felt in front of this boy; this way too hot, muscular, chizzled stature of a boy. “I-I guess I'm okay with any of them, too… you choose,” he ended up saying.

“Okay then, we can do…” and then Spot started talking about what they could do for the project. Race was still a bit lost, but at least now he had at least an idea of what he was supposed to be doing.

Once the bell rang, Tony quickly put his stuff back in his bag, and moved to get up. Spot did the same. “Hey so, I guess I should give you my number. So we can talk about the project and all that…” the shorter boy suggested. Dumbly, Race nodded and handed him his phone, biting down on his lip to contain the smile that so desperately wanted to spread on his lips because /Spot Conlon/ was giving him his number. At the moment, Race couldn’t care less if it was just for a stupid school project.

Once Spot was done, the boy handed him his phone back and Race nodded mutely, not trusting himself not to say anything about a night that would forever need to be kept a secret and he started to walk away to go to his next class. Sean followed him out. “We should start doing this soon, since it's pretty long,” he said, falling in step with Race as the blond’s heart beat faster and harder in his chest. “Is Friday good for you?”

Race glanced at him, confused. “Don’t you have football practice on friday?”

“It got cancelled,” Spot shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Yeah… Anyways, we can't go to my house- my dads having guests over. Is it okay if we go to your place?” Spot asked, and Race hesitated. If Spot came over, he could find out that Race was the person that danced with him at the party. It seemed to be a risk too big take. But if the Delanceys found out that he’d been “hanging around” Spot Conlon they’d be pissed if he didn’t bring the boy over and try and get them an “in” with the boy. They’d probably give Weasel a dumb excuse to punish him. So, not knowing what else he could say to stop this from happening, he nodded.

Sean grinned. “Great! I'll see you on friday then.” and with that, he left to go to his next class.

And Race stood frozen in the hallway for a moment before he forced himself to continue on.


End file.
